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Friday 23 March 2012

French Manhunt: 'Gunman Riddled With Bullets'

The post-mortem examination on a French gunman killed after a frenzied shootout with police has recovered more 20 bullets from his body, officials have confirmed.
They said spree killer Mohammed Merah died from two fatal rounds, one to the head and another to the abdomen.
But he was also hit by another 20 bullets, mainly in the arms and legs.
The post-mortem results came hours after Sky News obtained new footage of the operation, showing specialist firearms officers going in for the raid on Merah's flat in the southern French city of Toulouse.
Officers closed in on Merah after a nationwide manhunt for the killer of seven people, including three young children and three paratroopers, in attacks over the past fortnight.
The gunman was holed up in the property for 32 hours, as police tried to negotiate with him, before deciding on a capture attempt that ended in a violent firefight.
The 23-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent had claimed to have links to al Qaeda - but an official said there was no evidence the terror network had trained him or been in contact with him.
Merah died after he jumped out of a window while still firing his weapons.
However, residents of Toulouse remain on a heightened sense of alert, as the central square was temporarily evacuated on Friday afternoon following the discovery of a suspect package.
Meanwhile, the pregnant girlfriend of one of the paratroopers has gained permission from President Nicolas Sarkozy's office to marry him posthumously, family lawyer Gilbert Gollard said.
The new shootout video that emerged includes pictures of two injured officers being helped by firemen and at least one doctor after being hit as police stormed the property.
It begins with a group of heavily armed officers carrying armoured metal shields and ladders.
The men, wearing body armour and helmets, move around a corner towards the building.
A loud explosion is then heard, shortly followed by a second, more muffled, blast.
Some time later, more police have gathered, as have some firemen carrying a stretcher.
They disappear around the corner before returning with one of the injured officers, who is wheeled to a waiting ambulance.
A second officer - who has a bandaged foot - is helped onto another stretcher before being carried away by firefighters.
The French authorities have defended their actions as questions mount about how the gunman, who was known to intelligence services, was able to carry out his killings.
Merah travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009 where he was said to have attended terrorist training camps.
Politicians at the top of the French government are being forced to explain what went wrong as France examines whether Merah could have been stopped before he murdered three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French soldiers.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said French police had no grounds to detain him before he carried out the murders and said authorities cannot "permanently monitor without judicial authorisation" someone who has not committed an offence.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people turned out in the centre of Toulouse to remember those who were killed in the attacks.

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